The µOrganoLab has been awarded 6 million euros in funding from the Carl Zeiss Foundation for a 6-year project aimed to improve cancer immunotherapy.
Organ-chips are the future of cancer therapeutic research and drug development. Their ability to recreate 3D human cellular microarchitecture and organ function is unmatched by any other current models.
Immunotherapy has been a big step forwards in recent times in terms of cancer treatments, but their developement and testing can take over 13 years before it reaches the general public, if it gets approved at all. Organ-chips can revolutionize this process through making a more effecient method of replicating complex human biological processes outside the body and in the earlier stages of drug testing and development. This creates more accurate testing results much earlier in the drug developing process, helping to pick out the effective therapies earlier on.
The ImmuneMPS
The ‚ImmuneMPS‘ project will create 3D models of the human immune system using human lymphoid tissue. Through this, many aspects of the human immune response can be recreated and studied. This model will consist of micro-scale blood vessel-like channels that will connect the immune system to differing organ models in a multi-organ system.
„With our models, we want to realistically recreate the human immune response, the development of cancer, and the tumor response to cancer therapies.“ – Prof. Dr. Peter Loskill, leader of the µOrganoLab.
This project officially launches in April 2025 and will be funded for 6 years.
